Time-Space is Magic: PART 3 - Chasing the Sun
by SONGUE
Summary: Part 3 of a longer arc of short stories, partly inspired by Andrew Joshua Talon's "Vale Decem Equis". The Doctor takes a pegasus, a unicorn and an earth pony to where no mare has gone before... but they'll learn trouble always find the Doctor, no matter where he goes.
1. This was not supposed to happen

Part 3 in my take on **Doctor Whoof: Vale Decem Equis**, by** Andrew J. Talo. **I hope you people like it!

And hopefully, I will write more!

* * *

**Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction, I do not own My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic or Doctor Who.**

* * *

The materialization noise stopped, and the now tangible blue door opened, revealing the grey-coated pony that was piloting the wonderful machine.

"So…", he proudly said, "next stop, here… we…"

The Doctor stopped, as soon as he realized there were three ponies in front of him, one of them was a yellow Earth pony, with an orange mane. He barely noticed her carrot themed cutie mark as he turned towards the other two ponies, both whom he promptly recognized.

"Doctor?", asked the mother, who appear to have just got into the room in a hurry.

"Doctor!", cheered the younger one, who was sitting at a table, some toast and jelly already partially eaten on her plate.

"Back so soon? You just left… an hour ago!", Ditzy Doo quickly said, still caught by surprise by the fast return of her new friend. "Not that I'm complaining…", she quickly added, realizing how she may have sounded rude.

"Who are you?!", asked the other mare, open-mouthed about what she had just seen. "What… what is going on in here?!"

The colt smiled back, awkwardly.

The Doctor was sure, _pretty_ sure he had set the coordinates for the outer limits of the galaxy, and yet, here he was, back in Ponyville – he checked his leg watch – after sixty-eight minutes.

And he managed to land right inside what he could deduce was Miss Doo's kitchen.

Miss Ditzy Doo and her daughter. Once again.

"This was **not** supposed to happen", he quickly answered, half annoyed, half in embarrassment, but he quickly recomposed himself. "Is that blueberry muffin I smell?', he asked, already trotting to the table, warmly ruffling Dinky Doo's mane, who smiled in response for the kind act.

The yellow mare kept staring at him, mouth open and wide eyes.

Ditzy walked past him, even though a part of her wanted to hug the colt, and she went straight to her friend, who she still did not have the opportunity to talk about the events of the previous night.

"You won't mind having an extra plate on the table, will you, Miss Doo?", he politely asked, already checking the tray of freshly baked muffins.

"Can the Doctor have breakfast with us, Momma?", asked the overly excited, bright shining eyes filly, following the older colt wherever he went.

"Of course, Sweetie!", Ditzy said, still checking at her friend. "Carrot Top, are you okay?"

"Ditzy, there is a strange colt in our kitchen, and he just appeared, out of nowhere, inside a blue box", she stated, her mind trying to understand all that had just occurred. "Certainly, I am okay."

"That's good", the Doctor congratulated the mare, oblivious to the signs of sarcasm, while helping Dinky carrying another chair from the living room. "Most folks would get a nasty shock out of all of these, let me tell you."

"Oh, really?", asked Carrot Top, who was clearly trying to control her temper over the intruder. Ditzy looked at her with pleading eyes. "So… who are you, exactly?"

"He's the Doctor", Dinky said.

"Hello!", he cheered back, with a grin, already checking the inside of their refrigerator.

"He's a friend we made yesterday, Top", Ditzy quickly explained. "He's… err… not from around?", she tried to explain, remembering what the Doctor had said earlier.

The Doctor nodded, in support.

"But, wait a minute, Doctor, you told me you were going for a small trip, why did you come back so soon?", the grey pegasus asked, her eyes crossing.

"Well, normally this would be the time I'd say something on the lines of '_I had been away for a lot longer than you'd think, Miss Doo…_' but, in reality, **I haven't**!", he said, perplexed and a little joyful too. "Quite the opposite case, I have just left you on the alley when I closed the TARDIS' doors, and, when I get them opened, here I am, barely moved at all!"

Ditzy took a muffin from the tray, trying to understand what the Doctor had just said.

Carrot Top was, honestly, still angry with the invader, but the looks her friends were giving made her accept his obnoxious arrival just a little more.

She knew there were not that many ponies that could make Ditzy Doo so happy.

(Besides Dinky, of course.)

"So, what do you think it means, Doctor?", the grey mare asked, worried.

"No idea! Isn't it fantastic?", he asked, in full honesty.

His big grin captivated everypony in the room, including Carrot Top. Now that the tension had left them, she could really see the strange colt as just an absurd pony, with large flapping ears and big nose.

* * *

They were having a nice meal, with the Doctor occasionally (_read 'constantly'_) dropping his butter knife.

"Still having trouble to hold thing with your hooves, Doctor?", Ditzy asked, helping the grown up colt.

'_Just like only a mother would_', Carrot observed, as The Doctor smiled sheepishly in return.

"The Doctor never had hooves before, Carrot Top", Dinky explained the unasked question. "He is getting used to them now."

"Never had hooves before?", asked Carrot Top, in surprise, loudly enough to get the Doctor's attention. "How's that supposed to be?"

"In my line of work, the unexpected always happens, Miss Top", the Doctor explained – then frowned, rambling. "'_Miss Top_'… '_Miss-Stop_'… '_Miss, stop!_'… Nope, sorry, don't like how that sounds. Ever thought about changing names?"

"Excuse me?", she asked, quite sure she heard him right.

"It's that Carrot Top is making me confused, that's all. Carrot Top is a comedian's name, not a pony's!", he explained.

The Doctor saw Carrot's outraged face, and Ditzy's nervous one.

"All right, if that's not possible, may I at least call you by '_Miss Carrot_' instead?"

The mare blinked a little, caught by his odd behavior.

She got closer to her friend, whispering: "Where _did_ you find this guy?!"

"Yesterday, the Doctor saved Dinky from being ran over by a fruit cart!", she explained, very apologetic. "I know he's a bit odd, but he's a nice colt, see?"

Carrot Top did see him paying attention, while Dinky Doo was explaining to him how to properly hold the knife with one hoof and the bread with the other.

"I suppose so", she agreed, then turned back to the colt. "Fine, call me like that if it pleases you, '_Doctor_', but you did not explain what you meant with '_never had hooves before_'."

"What is there to explain, Miss Carrot?", the Doctor asked, bothered. "I've never had hooves in my life, till…wait", he checked his leg watch once more. "… twenty hours ago. New body, new everything. Would you kindly pass me a muffin, Little Miss Doo? I think I got the hang of it."

"Wait", Carrot Top said, starting to get confused once more. "What you're saying does not make any sense, if you did not have hooves, what did you have?"

The Doctor sighed. "I can see this conversation is getting very old very fast. And you know what? A quick jaunt on the TARDIS might help you understand, what do you say, girls?"

Ditzy's eyes grew wide. "But, Doctor! You said…"

"I know what I said earlier, Miss Doo, calm down", he waved with both hind hooves, dropping once more the butter knife - '_Oh, come on_!' "What I meant was, I'm not offering a big thing, it's just a quick jump, in and out of here so quickly you three won't even notice it! Nothing dangerous or too exciting, of course", he made a motion with his head towards Dinky Doo, who was oblivious to the meaning of this gesture.

"Oh…", Ditzy considered. She was aware travelling with the Doctor could get them in danger, but she was sure he would not put her family and friend in harm's way. "Oh, of course, whatever you say, Doctor!"

Both the Doctor and Dinky Doo beamed at her reply.

Carrot was way less enthusiastic.

* * *

"Come in, you three!", the Doctor invited, opening the doors and walking right in.

Ditzy and Dinky Doo walked right behind him, leaving a lone pony behind, still unsure of what they were playing.

"How can we all fit inside of this?", she asked unsure.

The Doctor's head showed up from inside. "Don't know about them, but I feel comfortable myself. Room to spare", he said with a smile.

Her standing eyebrow was not the response he was expecting for.

"Suit yourself, we're about to leave, hop in or…"

"Okay, okay!", she complained, passing him by and finally entering. "Crazy colt and his blue… CELESTIA ALMIGHTY!", he heard her say behind him, which made him smile as he closed the doors.

He found Carrot Top had been, almost literally, struck down by the shock.

The Doctor found her sitting down, trying to take in her surroundings.

"Cultural shock, happens to the best of us", he offered her, as he walked up the ramp to the Main Console, Ditzy Doo walking in the opposite direction to help her friend up.

Dinky Doo was smiling there, trying to see the bright buttons and levers above the panel.

"Want to help me fly it?", the Doctor asked the unicorn filly, who started jumping up and down. "I'll take that as a 'yes'!"

The Doctor turned a switch up, the panels lit in green light and the time rotor slightly turned blue.

"Right then, Miss Doo, you tell me", he offered her. "**Where** – and **when** – do you want us to go to?"

Ditzy blinked, unsure of what to say.

The Doctor kindly smiled in return.

"That's okay, I think I know _just_ the thing to break the ice!", he said, spinning a wheel, pressing a row of buttons and pulling down a side lever.

The entire room shook a bit, the large column of the Time Rotor started going moving, up, down and back.

Ditzy held on to Carrot Top, who was holding on the floor with scared eyes, recognizing the noises that happened when the blue box appeared in the living room.

Dinky Doo was shouting excited, the Doctor safely holding her in a hug, while he grabbed at the edge of the panel.

The shaking stopped, a couple of levers automatically shifting up and down in the console, all by themselves.

"There you go, nice and easy!", he spoke, finally seeing the dishevelled state of the grown mares' manes. "What?"

They were both a bit in shock, as far as he could notice it.

"Oh… I forgot to tell you to hold on, didn't I?", he realized.

They both nodded, steadying themselves.

"… ops. Been a long time since I travelled with a companion. Sorry, Miss Doo. Sorry, Miss Charriot."

"It's _Carrot_", she corrected the colt.

Seemingly not aware of what she said, the Doctor walked past them.

Dinky Doo stood at her mother's side, worried about her.

"I'm fine, muffin", she replied smiling. "What just happened, Doctor?"

"Take a look and find out by yourselves", was his only reply before opening the doors.

* * *

"**_Woah_**", was what the three female ponies said at the same time, as they observed the outside.

"Couldn't have said it better myself", the Doctor joked at their sides.

In front of them, just outside the box, instead of their kitchen or their living room, there was space. Deep, vast, and unbelievably big space, as far as the infinite darkness could reach, with millions of billions of stars shining at all directions, the brightest one directly ahead of them, a fiery yellow sphere of incredible proportions.

"It's beautiful!", said Dinky Doo, in complete awe, while hugged by her stunned mother.

"I… I can't believe it!", said Carrot Top, also impressed, her previous annoyance gone. "We're in space, so that means… is that really…?"

"Yes. Yes, it really is", the Doctor confirmed. "The **Sun**. Specifically, your planet's sun."

The four of them stared at it, appreciating the powerful image. The Doctor took a peek at the ponies, his '_temporary_' companions, and smiled.

That reaction of them. That pure, innocent look of amazement… _**that**_ actually made him feel so young again. So free of the weight…

"Congratulations", he said to them. The ponies looked at the grey colt, distracted from the outside.

"What for?", asked Ditzy Doo, confused.

The Doctor smiled. "As far as I know, in your history, you are the first ponies ever to go out to space."

The pegasus, the unicorn and the earth pony stared at each other and looked outside, completely taken by the Doctor's words.

"Now, as a certain friend of mine once said, and I'll take the liberty of adapting it a little", the Doctor added, "it's '_a small step for ponies, a giant leap for…_"

And, at that moment, something passed them by, a giant white object cruising across the space, straight towards the sun.

It was clearly bigger than Canterlot's Castle, made of metal, painted white with big letters painted in its hull.

"Okay, I was not expecting that", the Doctor said, completely taken by surprise, reading the name of the space vessel: '_E. S. S.__** ICARUS**'_

* * *

_**To be continued…**_


	2. Aboard the Icarus

Part 3 in my take on **Doctor Whoof: Vale Decem Equis**, by** Andrew J. Talo. **I hope you people like it!

And hopefully, I will write more!

* * *

**Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction, I do not own My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic or Doctor Who.**

* * *

"Doctor!", Ditzy yelled, seeing the colt running back to the main console in the middle of the room. "What was that?!"

"That, Miss Doo, was a spaceship! A spaceship! But why?", he asked.

"Why what?", she asked him back, unsure.

"Why is there a spaceship out there, unless…", the Doctor narrowed his eyes, checking his instruments, then his face became full of gleeful surprise. "Oh, now that makes all the sense in the world."

"Doctor, you are the one not making any sense yourself!", Ditzy said, already noticing he was giving in to that enthusiasm of his.

Her friend and daughter were still watching the spaceship, now much smaller, with the same fascination.

The Doctor cleared his throat a bit. "Yes, well… there may have been an accident", he said, a bit of joy trying to show in a otherwise serious voice. "Amazing thing happened, I did set up coordinates for flying closer to your system's sun… and that has been a success, however…"

"However what, Doctor?", she asked, worried.

"However, the TARDIS seems to have made a bit of a miss on the local timeframe's landing. We travelled forward in time. Approximately five hundred thousand years!"

"WHAT?!", asked Carrot Top. "You mean we are in space and in the future?!"

"As I said, a mistake", the Doctor replied. "In my defense, the TARDIS has been a bit wonky ever since we arrived at you lot's Universe, I mean, it should not even be alive in the first place, let alone working! Stably travelling half a million years to the future in a foreign reality while landing with spatial pin-point accuracy, then, is nothing short of fan_tas_tic, if I may say so!"

Seeing as none of his temporary companions shared his opinion.

Even Dinky Doo looked a little flabbergasted.

'_Flabbergasted… I like this word… maybe I'll save it for later_', the Doctor mused himself a little, noticing Ditzy was expecting for him to speak something.

"Yes, girls, no worries, I promised an _**un**_eventful trip, I'll just set the coordinates back, and keep us away from the amazing fact that we've just found a spaceship flying straight to the sun", the Doctor spoke, in all seriousness.

Ditzy trotted near him, as he kept checking some switched to flip on and off repeatedly.

"Doctor…", she started saying.

"Miss Doo, I'm not sad", he quickly said. "Really, I'm a responsible colt, I know what I'm doing, and what I'm supposed to do…"

The grey Pegasus put a hoof over his own, which was already holding a lever.

"Take us there, Doctor", she told him.

The Doctor's eyebrows shot up, his blue eyes stared at her intently.

"Is that what you want, Miss Doo? Really?", he asked, and she could feel that this was the Doctor she had seen before, the one in the Everfree Forest. "I must warn you, you're going to see all sorts of things, good and bad. Ghosts from the past? Aliens from the future? Long forgotten heroes and threats yet to come? The day Equestria is no more? English muffins? I frankly have no idea. I do know it won't always be quiet, or safe, or calm. But I'll tell you what it will be: the trip of a lifetime."

She stayed quiet for a moment, then nodded.

He closed his eyes, in return, satisfied.

"Fantastic."

* * *

"Project Icarus, day 89. Report by Captain Minyonette. This… this is it", the mare took a pause for a breath, controlling her own excitement. "In less than twenty four hours, the Icarus will reach its destination, the Sun. We're a week ahead of schedule. Even had to tell Hemera – I mean, Officer Orfeather to slow us down a bit, Lieutenant Colton needed the time to finish triple-checking the systems. My First Officer gave me the '_hoof up_', we're good to go… pause report."

"_Report paused_", came the automatic reply from the computer.

Minyonette was, as usual, staring the space through her window.

'_Good to go_', she minced the words, over and over. After a decade of planning and building the ship, and three months of travelling with the most powerful engines ever made by ponies, they were finally fulfilling the Impossible Dream, to reach the nearest star to their planet.

Her crew, though lacking in numbers, more than compensated by their excellence.

Swarthy Colton, the young magical genius. Fresh out of the Magical Academy, practically rewrote the books on Magical Transportation in Vacuous Environments.

Hemera Orfeather, triple medal ace griffon pilot. Professional, sharp, skillful – though, sometimes, a bit impetuous.

Brunswick, their miracle worker down at Engineering. Minyonette had yet to see a machine the earth pony couldn't fix.

Doctor Phyllisha, her first officer and the mission's Healer. As efficient as a whole medical staff, as cool as an iceberg.

'_Good to go_ _is just not good enough to describe us.'_

"Computer, resume Report. **Better**, impossible." – _'Now __**that**__'s more like it._' – "Tomorrow, Icarus is finally going to have a meeting with a Star. End Report."

* * *

The blue doors opened up, two earth ponies stepping out of it.

"Ah, the whole package, artificial gravity, heating and atmosphere", the Doctor described out-loud in an approving tone. "Air smells sweeter than I'd expect, but, all in all, marvellous achievement!"

Carrot Top walked by his side, expectantly.

"You sure it's safe to just walk right in?", she asked, worried. "I mean, we are invading, right?"

"Like I'd let that stop us, we're on a mission!"

"Really?", asked the excited filly, followed by her mother. "Wow!"

"A mission? Seriously", said Carrot Top, not amused. That made Ditzy giggle.

"Why, of course, Miss Chariot" – "**Carrot**!" – "A mission for knowledge. New Universe, new things for me to discover and for you to learn. Or the other way around, that's the whole fun, isn't it?"

Ditzy Doo trotted closer to him.

"But Doctor, Carrot Top may be right. What if they don't like seeing us here?"

"What, a group of nice girls… _fillies_ like yourselves?"

Ditzy Doo stared at him back.

"Oh, if that makes you feel any better…", the Doctor said, pulling out the sonic screwdriver out of his jacket's inner pocket. "… though it takes away a bit of the surprise."

He buzzed the tool around, much to Carrot's puzzlement.

"Here it is", he said, looking at the metal cylinder. "_Equestria Solar Starship Icarus_, crew of four, plus one captain. Blimey, talk about shorthanded."

"Short-what?", asked Ditzy, confused.

"Where?", asked Carrot, looking at the Doctor's tool, sure that there were, in fact, no words there whatsoever. "How do you know that?"

"I asked their computers nicely and got the info, how else?", the Doctor replied, annoyed.

"No, I mean…"

"This is a scientific vessel. Mission: orbiting the Sun, gather info, survive the trip back, the usual", he commented, in a better mood. "You lot are magnificent, you know that? Faring space, reaching for the stars, quite literally… Not much of a fan of the name of the ship, though."

"Why is that, Doctor?", asked a curious Dinky.

"Well, where I come from, there is a story about a fellow named Icarus and a moral about flying too close to the Sun, but I bet around here is just a coincidence", he explained. "Though, word of advice, just to be safe, don't get on board any ship called Titanic. **Ever**. Got it, Little Miss Doo?"

The little unicorn nodded her head, not making any sense out of what the Doctor just said, but feeling it was the right thing to do.

"Good! Hurry now, girls!", he said, excited. "As quick as we can, come along, come along! There's so much of this ship we still need to see!"

* * *

"Captain on the Bridge", the First Officer said, calling the attention of the griffon and the unicorn.

"Thanks, Phyl", the yellow unicorn said, passing through the back doors that beeped and closed back automatically.

Icarus' Bridge was an oval, metallic room, with enough space (_heh_) for the five of them to operate comfortably.

The seat in the middle of the room was hers, the Captain's.

Two stations were close to the viewscreen, Piloting and Navigation. Hemera gave a nod with her head while the light blue unicorn made an excited salute.

"Where's Brunswick?", she asked the pink pegasus, who sat on her right side, right next to the Scientific Database terminal.

She shook her head.

"You know him, Ma'am. Never one to sit still at the bridge", Phyllisha replied.

"That stubborn mule", she complained, eyeing the empty seat on her left, Engineering Station.

Minyonette returned to the back door's arch and pushed the intercom button.

"Chief Brunswick, your presence is requested at the Bridge", she ordered.

A few seconds later a low voice came through the speakers: "Something broke?"

"No, but…"

"Then I'll stay here, thank you very much, Captain. Brunswick out."

Minyonette rolled her eyes. "I swear, he worries so much about the engines, it's bound to jinx them!"

"Feeling superstitious, Captain?", the griffon joked.

"Oh, you know me, Hemera, I'm always watchful for curses and voodoo. That reminds me, I seem to have forgotten to bring my lucky horseshoe from my quarters."

"How dreadful", said Phyllisha, annoyed.

"Do not worry, Captain, I've been running a diagnosis check every ten minutes, all systems are within the acceptable efficiency variation – I could make exams more precise, though, perhaps I should…"

"Woah, woah. Lieutenant, that was a joke", Captain Minyonette explained to him. Seeing as he was still trying to understand it, she decide to go a little slower. "As in, '_I'm pretending to be afraid of mysticism when, in fact, I do not have a superstitious bone in my body_'?"

The light blue unicorn blinked, his messy black mane untied as usual.

Eventually, his mouth made a shape of an 'O'.

"Now I get it!", he admitted too frankly.

"And he came with _such_ credentials…", Minyonette said, rolling her eyes, in a disappointed tone, quickly realizing the colt was now getting scared.

"Arthy, that... was **also** a joke", the griffon told him, faceclawing herself.

Any comment from Colton was cut short because of the beep from the door.

"Well, about time", said Minyonette, quite surprised. "It's good to see you finally decided to join us, Mr. Brun…"

Everyone in the bridge froze, as, instead of the graphite coated stallion, there were four strangers in front of them.

The only colt of the four broke the pregnant silence.

"We come in peace!"

* * *

_**To be continued...**_


	3. Bring Your Daughter to Work Day

Part 3 in my take on **Doctor Whoof: Vale Decem Equis**, by** Andrew J. Talo. **I hope you people like it!

And hopefully, I will write more!

* * *

**Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction, I do not own My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic or Doctor Who.**

* * *

"We come in peace!", said the Doctor, happily.

There was no reply from the ponies at the command bridge.

The Doctor made a quick assessment of the crew.

A blue unicorn – young looking, and – if the Doctor was not mistaken – a brown feathered griffin-like creature at the furthest point, the black and green screens in front of them were typical guidance systems and multi-vectored spatial routers.

The closest two, a yellow unicorn and a staggering bright pink pegasus, looked confrontational, though. The yellow pony had a remarkable cutie mark, a hand mirror ('_Or better put, a hoof mirror_') with a star in it. Seat at the center of the room, probably commanding position, he guessed.

The pink pegasus had, on the other hand ('_Hoof!_'), a syringe on a cloud mark, and she had a more serious expression, though still in shock.

The colt even noticed her pink right wing slightly turned down, an unconscious protective gesture over the unicorn – the reactions of a friend with military quickness.

"Honestly, no replies at all?", the Doctor asked, after the two seconds he gave them while checking out the dangers. "Thought you guys had a sense of humour", he complained to Ditzy, who smiled awkwardly.

"Who… who are…?", the yellow unicorn began.

"I'm the Doctor, if you don't mind me rushing the formalities", the Doctor quickly said. "This is my entourage, Miss Doo, _Little_ Miss Doo and Miss Harriot…"

"Carrot!"

"As you can see…", the Doctor pulled the wallet from his jacket's pocket. "We're a very official group of inspectors, no worries, just keep on doing your job, don't mind us."

The yellow unicorn stared at him and at the paper, very seriously.

Then she looked at all the strange ponies.

Then she stopped at the unicorn filly, then back at the stallion.

"Have I mentioned it is also '_Bring Your Daughter to the Work_' day, maybe you guys did not get the memo, being so far away from home", the Doctor explained. "Congratulations on it, by the way, remarkable ship you got here..."

"The paper is blank."

Everyone's attention turned towards the light blue coated unicorn, his cutie mark was in the shape of an atom, with a sun in the middle.

The yellow unicorn did a double take on said paper. It still read '_Doctor, The – Directorate of Solar Starships Inspection_'.

She also felt Colton's outburst also seemed genuine.

"My name is Minyonette", she slowly said. "_Captain_ Minyonette. I don't know why would my Lieutenant would say something so out of the blue, but, considering I trust each and everypony – and griffon – aboard this ship, I suggest you start speaking the truth, Doctor..."

"Just the Doctor, really", said the Doctor, scratching his chin. "Funny how the young fellow could actually see through the psychic paper. Lieutenant Colton, is that it?"

The male unicorn nodded, gulping.

"Keep that mind sharp, kid", the Doctor advised him, the younger pony nodding in return. "Now, Captain Minyonette, I apologize for the previous lie. I guess we should have a talk..."

* * *

"So... time-travelling ponies."

Captain Minyonette's face was serious, straight as an arrow. The colt – called only '_the Doctor_' – had just told her about their accidental travel to the future, like it was a mistake someone could just make happen.

The Captain, her First Officer and their Science expert, Swarty Colton, were gathered at one of the tables of the ship's cafeteria.

The Doctor's friends were having a conversation with Brunswick, who accepted that the appearance of strange ponies that came out of nowhere was a good enough excuse to make him crawl out of the Engineering Section. That and the Captain needed an extra pair of eyes to keep watch on the invaders, since Hemera was still on duty of flying and guiding the ship on her own.

Doctor Phyllisha was scratching her green mane, her mind clearly having trouble with the concept brought up by the Doctor. "But time travel is impossible", she said.

Minyonette turned to her medical officer, but the younger unicorn already interrupted her.

"Technically, travelling in time **is** possible, you only need to find the right way to do it and the resources to pull it off", corrected Colton, suddenly realizing he was, in fact, speaking over his superior officer. "I'm sorry, Ma'am!"

The pink pegasus shook her head. "That's okay, Arty. Please, continue."

"Well… as I said, any sort of movement makes you travel in time, in a sense", Swarty Colton continued, slightly embarrassed. "Mechanically, that applies only to forward motions. You can only perceive it with higher speeds. The faster you go, the further you go both in distance and in duration! Travel close to the speed of light, you'll jump a hundred years in a question of hours or minutes!"

The light blue unicorn noticed only at this moment how he was standing on the table, making gestures with his hooves as he explained – getting everypony's attention while doing so.

He came down, saying a meek '_Sorry!_' for his sudden behaviour.

"Travelling backwards, however, demands magical approach – and a lot of magical energy", Colton continued, embarrassed. "But that would be entering in the realm of mythology and guessing. I've heard archaeological records studies pointing out there had been, what? Maybe two, or three unicorns in History that could pull such a thing, you know, time-travelling spells. But as I've said, it's only a myth…", he stopped, catching the grin in the strange colt's face.

The captain also noticed him. "Yes?", she asked, interested.

"You've got to start thinking beyond what you know, kid", the Doctor said, in a bit of disappointment. "Alien technology, future advancements… If you're not restricted by the limits of your own technology and science, what could be said to be impossible? Who says what's impossible? Take your planet's history and tell me that space faring would not be an impossible dream in, say, _five hundred thousand _years in the past? Or maybe flying this close to the Sun? "

Colton only nodded, fascinated by the notion.

"Brilliant, beautiful Swarty Colton. Though totally wrong in most of your explanation, as far as the development of your_ intellectually limited_ species go, you are amazing, Mr. Colton."

"Er… thanks, I guess?"

"You're welcome. Captain Minyonette, try to understand me."

"You make it harder than you'd believe it, Doctor", the captain remarked in return.

"We are not here to disturb you and what appears it will be the most fantastic achievement of your species' accomplishments so far", he smiled at each of the members of the expedition. "Honestly! What you're doing is beyond fan_tas_tic, so, as far as it goes, we do not want to interrupt you. Go, please! Keep on forward, get to the sun, we four only request you allow us to watch it all happen."

"But why?", asked Phyllisha.

"Why else? For the fun of it!", the stallion replied, maniacally. "It's how it all began to me, and it's so good to feel it all again!"

* * *

"Ponyville, you say?", asked Brunswick, scratching his beard. "Never heard of it."

The three ponies looked at each other, not knowing what to say in return.

'_A future where there was no Ponyville?_', Dinky wondered.

"Well, I guess some things change in the future, right?", asked Ditzy, worried. "Maybe Ponyville just changed name."

"Hay if I know", Brunswick complained. "After all, most details we had on the home planet have been lost for so long"

"What?!", asked Carrot, startled.

"Well, yeah, the home planet, Gaia. Ever since the Great Exodus one thousand years ago, all our species have fled our homes, setting up cities into the further planets.

The three mares stared him back, paler than before.

* * *

Hemera, at the moment, was taking care of their flight.

The griffon was not really buying the story from the invading ponies.

'_If it were up to me, the strangers would all now be all incarcerated in the nearest life pod, aimed straight at the Sun just for good caution. One false move and it's wham! Straight to the Sun!_'

But she **had** been a little bored. Maybe the newcomers were not bad ponies, after all. Maybe it was just that old griffon xenophobia speaking up. She remember how it was, even after so many centuries post-Exodus, the Griffon nation still acted toward ponies with reluctance, in the best cases, or complete lack of trust, in most cases...

Hemera quickly spun her head to her right side, almost all the way to her back.

She could not feel or see anything wrong behind her, but, for a brief moment…

She returned her attentions back to the console.

'_Yeah, getting tired, that's what it is_', she thought. '_Get some rest and proteins, girl, you're starting to hear stuff that isn't there._'

And that's what probably what have happened, she was certain of it.

The griffon was only getting tired, no way she had heard someone just tell her to -

'_leave_'

"Who said that?" she asked out loud, this time, turning herself left and right now, to no avail.

There was nobody there.

Only Hemera and the Sun in front of her.

* * *

To be continued…


	4. The Great Exile

**Part 3 in my take on Doctor Whoof: Vale Decem Equis, by Andrew J. Talo. I hope you people like it!**

**And hopefully, I will write more!**

* * *

**Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction, I do not own My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic or Doctor Who.**

* * *

"Doctor!", said Ditzy approaching the colt on the other table. "Mister Brunswick just told us…"

"Ponies left Equestria!", Dinky Doo quickly completed.

The Doctor heard his Companions' explanations – at least, what he could understand from the filly's speedy phrases cutting in her mother's explanations – and nodded, in understanding.

"Not unlike what I've seen before. Back where I come from, there has been lots of cases where entire populations had to leave planets because of a problem or two", he explained, turning towards the other ponies at the table. "What happened in your case?"

"What? Aren't you supposed to know, being a time-travelling group and all?", asked Phyllisha, suspecting the stranger colt.

"Oh, like we could keep track of everything that ever did and would happen in just one civilization's history!", the Doctor complained. "Let me guess, solar radiation? That would explain the strange readings I've been getting ever since we landed here."

The crew looked at each other and nodded in return. "Gaia had been experiencing a new age of scientific progress and social enlightenment", Captain Minyonette explained. "Then, one thousand years ago, give it or take, ponies started getting sick. They were not isolated cases, all through the planet, creatures big and small showed signs of discomfort, nausea, fever and skin rash. Elite scientists gathered to solve this problem – and they did."

"The Sun, _our_ Sun, started emanating a new form of radiation, dangerous to our health", added Phyllisha. "Medical analysis showed that, without protection or treatment, everyone in the planet would be dead in half a decade. With the aid of planetary satellites, the solar radiation was held back for as long as it could, but conditions would reach lethal levels in fifty years."

"Oh, my!", Carrot Top spoke, in surprise. She wondered how did the Princesses let something like that happen, seeing as they controlled the power of both the Sun and the Moon.

"Luckily, that was more than enough time to build spaceships to take everypony and everybody else out of Gaia and out of our Solar system", added a growling voice, Brunswick annoyingly joining the conversation after being left alone at his table. "We took all those we could, nobody left behind… and I mean it, just imagine the trouble they must have had herding the dragons, though!", he gave a gruff laugh.

The Doctor's interests peaked at the word '_dragons_'.

"It's what came to be known as the Great Exile, the departure of ponies from our home planet to form the new Equestrian Colonies", Minyonette said, in a mixed tone.

"And now, you're back here", Ditzy Doo spoke, her leg over her daughter. "Back to Gaia."

"It's our mission", the captain agreed. "The Icarus is the first ship specially fitted to fly close enough to a star and return."

The Time Lord nodded in approval. The level of technology these ponies had achieved was far beyond what he would expect in just half million years. "Stars are not just hot, they are incredibly dense, with a considerable gravity pull of…", the Doctor explained, catching the look on his companions' faces. "Er, the closer you get to a star, the hotter it gets and more difficult it is to get away from it."

"Oh", they answered in understanding.

"Is that why there's only five of you?", asked Carrot Top. "I mean, I counted four ponies and a griffon, and you all don't look like scientists."

"It's like the Captain said, we are here to get new information and leave", Swarty Colton responded, feeling confident to speak up again. "We are the pioneers, the first expedition. Later, using all the gathered data, bigger and better ships will be built."

"Bigger, maybe? Better? Not a chance", said the black coated technician.

"Brunswick was the Chief Designer and Master Builder of the Icarus", Colton explained.

"I'm retiring after this adventure here, Icarus is going to be the last ship I put my hooves on", Brunswick added. "But I am not sad, I did my part, made the best ship there is, and got to fly in it to boot."

The Doctor gave a knowing smile, and saw his friends were also smiling. They could feel the hope and courage in these crew's words, they were flying towards their Sun not only for the achievement of being the first, but to start the efforts of ponies, griffons and everybody else to return to their home planet.

The Doctor could not feel happier for finding such astounding creatures.

"Frankly, this has been quite a fun travel, wasn't it, Miss Doo?", the Doctor said, Ditzy nodding in return, smiling to her daughter. "Captain Minyonette, allow me to congratulate you and your crew on this amazing enterpr…"

The Doctor lurched over, his head hitting the floor, while he groaned loudly.

"Doctor!", yelled Ditzy, reaching the Time Lord quicker than any other pony. "What's wrong?!"

"Ditzy… help… there's…", he said, his eyes closed in pain. "… help… so much pain…"

Ditzy felt the pink hoof of Doctor Phyllisha push her a bit to the side, trying to reach the hurt colt.

"He's heating up fast", Phyllisha quickly assessed, a hoof on the lurched Doctor's forehead, another checking his front leg. "Pulse is erratic, too erratic! Somepony get my tools, I think he's having a cardiac arrest!"

"Two…", was his weak response.

"What?", asked the physician.

"Two… hearts…", the Doctor explained, with a weak smile. Phyllisha took a second before her eyes opened wide.

Using his free leg to pull out his sonic screwdriver, and with some amount of difficulty, the colt buzzed over his own chest and head. "_Hearts_ rate normal, core temperature increasing ten degrees Celsius – hope you guys use Celsius here too – nothing too extreme for my species, can handle it just fine."

The pink pegasus took a slight step back. "Your species… you mean…"

"Not important, right now", he replied.

"Doctor, are you okay?", asked the little filly, full of worry.

"You said you were in pain, Doctor", Ditzy spoke, also worried about him.

"Me? No, not me", he replied, his face showing pain, but a lot of resolve. "Psychic feedback, like a flashback of a _dejà vu_ - I picked the _echo_ of somepony else's pain. No!", the Doctor spun around, a bit more worried. "Some _**one**_!"

The colt, who was on the floor a moment ago, writhing in pain, shot out of the cafeteria, running so fast that it took a moment to the rest of the ponies on the room to register.

The captain was the first one to speed up after him, Phyllisha flying after.

"Is it… that radiation thing?", asked Carrot Top, who was helping Ditzy up.

"No, our shields are still fully effective, must be something else… who is that colt, anyway?", asked the light blue unicorn.

"He's… _complicated_", Ditzy admitted, with half a smile.

* * *

**_To be continued…_**


End file.
